Prospects Ruben Villa and Saul Sanchez Pass Tests in Corona

CORONA, Calif.-Two top prospects were fed to the wolves to eat or be eaten and both emerged victorious on Friday evening.

Ruben Villa, a southpaw featherweight, and Saul Sanchez, a burgeoning bantamweight, both passed tests on Thompson Boxing Promotions co-main events at Omega International Products. Now it’s on to even bigger competition.

Villa (13-0, 5 KOs) was matched against Mexico’s Jose Santos Gonzalez (23-6, 13 KOs) a veteran of the Guadalajara wars and strong as a bull. After an opening round that saw the Mexican fighter land lead rights on the Northern Californian, for the rest of the fight Villa was like a ghost.

Using his southpaw stance and quick feet to neutralize Gonzalez’s power shots, Villa then unloaded quick lead lefts and right hooks that snapped the Mexican fighter’s head back repeatedly.

Gonzalez could not adapt.

After eight rounds Villa, 21, was deemed the winner by the judges 80-72 twice and 79-73.

In the co-main event, Sanchez (10-0, 6 KOs) was matched against Mexico’s Ernesto Guerrero (28-23, 18 KOs) a veteran of more than 50 professional bouts. That’s a very sizeable amount.

Despite the experience factor Sanchez was dominant.

A leaping left hook by Sanchez connected almost immediately after the opening bell and Guerrero seemed wobbled by the impact. Left hooks seldom missed in the first round.

In the second round both fighters exchanged in the middle of the ring and Sanchez connected with a right as Guerrero missed. The Mexican fighter spun around from the punch and his own miss and seemed to touch the ground. The referee did not count it as a knockdown. But Sanchez was definitely in charge.

Sanchez was on full attack and seemed to be able to fire and land combinations with full effect. Guerrero decided to hold whenever possible and refrain from engaging in any more exchanges. It was clear he was on survival mode.

“He knew how to hold and to survive,” said Sanchez, 21, who lives in Pacoima, Calif. and trains in Indio, Ca. “He could take a punch too.”

After three rounds of Sanchez dominating the action with quick combinations and strong right hands, it seemed the fight might go to a decision eventually. But during an exchange of blows in the next round, a right cross to the body dropped Guerrero instantly and he showed no sign of getting up. Referee Zach Young stopped the fight at 1:58 for a knockout win for Sanchez.

“I didn’t think I would knock him out,” said Sanchez. “But I saw him not getting up.”

 Other Bouts

Corona’s Louie Lopez (4-0, 3 KOs) battered Mexico’s Edgar Garcia (7-18-1) for almost the entire four round contest. But in the fourth and final round of the welterweight fight Lopez opened up with all of the guns and battered Garcia against the ropes until referee Wayne Hedgpeth stopped the fight at 39 seconds of the fourth round.

L.A. bantamweight Daniel Guzman (3-1) and Tijuana’s Luis Montellano (0-3-2) fought to a split draw after four rounds. Guzman was the busier fighter but the southpaw Montellano connected plenty of times with his left.

A heavyweight clash saw San Diego’s Elvis Garcia (5-0) defeat Mexico’s Oswaldo Ortega (3-9) by decision after four rounds.

In a fight between pro debuting boxers, Arizona’s Carlos Velazquez (1-0) defeated Riverside, Calif.’s Keith Carson (0-1) by unanimous decision after four lightweight rounds.

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